Richard Williamson oversaw the mapping team at Apple as a Senior Director for iOS Platform Services. He was reportedly handed a pink slip after Cue became responsible for Maps during last month's management restructuring, according to anonymous sources speaking to Bloomberg.

Apple replaced Google as the data source for its Maps app in iOS 6 after it could not reach an agreement to license Google's vector mapping data and turn-by-turn navigation features. (This is despite the fact that Google incorporated the features into its mobile OS, Android.) Apple built its own data backend using data from Open Street Maps and Tom Tom, among other sources, as well as incorporating mapping and visualization technologies it acquired from Placebase, Poly9, and C3 Technologies.

The redesigned Maps include benefits such as turn-by-turn navigation with voice cues form Siri, three-dimensional "flyover" views of major cities, and more efficient data transmission and caching. However, Maps has been widely criticized for its lack of transit directions, missing points of interest, inaccurate search results, and driving directions that could lead users on a wild goose chase.

Meanwhile, rival Google is reportedly putting the "finishing touches" on its own Maps replacement, which would include turn-by-turn navigation and its own 3D map views.

Cue plans to replace Williamson as part of his efforts to make good on Cook's promise to do "everything we can to make Maps better." Former SVP of iOS Software Engineering Scott Forstall was also apparently asked to leave Apple in part after he declined to sign his name to Cook's apology over Maps. Forstall reportedly refused to accept responsibility for what he saw as a non-issue.

Cue is also said to be consulting with outside mapping experts and "prodding" Tom Tom to fix the data it licenses to Apple for navigation and landmark locations.

This isn't the first time Cue has been called in to fix others' mistakes. He originally served as a vice president in charge of Apple's iTunes Store but was asked to take over for the failing MobileMe cloud service that Apple launched in 2008 to coincide with the iPhone 3G. He was promoted to senior vice president in 2011 by Cook and charged with overseeing iCloud—MobileMe's replacement—along with iAd, the App Store, and iTunes. In the executive shakeup last month, Cue was also put in charge of both Maps and Siri.

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I am not second-guessing the change by any means, but ugh… Maps is impressive, particularly in its presentation, despite its major flaws. To put so much together and have it work so well, only to be dismissed after it launches because it can't reliably perform its one essential task, must be crushing.

Impressive, as in impressively bad in its presentation.

The relative visual weights of elements and regions is horrendous. In particular, one-way-street indicators are entirely missing at various zoom levels and pretty much invisible at nearly all zoom levels. This is inexcusable and just one of the many signs that the project was mismanaged from the very top of the personnel hierarchy.

Media and users both tend to fixate on provable flaws such as incorrect or missing data. Lost to most is the subconscious realization that the map's visual design is horrible.

Hundreds of years of cartography thrown out the window and instead substituted with trendy sparse minimalism. Maps should be information dense without cognitively overloading the user. Rather than pursue useable data density, apple just discarded most of that utility. For instance, glancing at a map for 2 seconds should give a user a mental picture of the street grid or overall layout of the physical world. Due to the visual weighting of streets and other regions, Apple maps fail in this regard. For example, regular land is beige yet roads are outlined with a shade of gray of nearly identical intensity. Meanwhile parks are visually bold, with bright contrasted green visually out-weighing and blotting out everything else on the screen.

Yes, maps are bad. But amazingly, they're even worse than most people consciously realize.

143 Reader Comments

Apple replaced Google as the data source for its Maps app in iOS 6 after Google refused to license its vector mapping data and turn-by-turn navigation features.

Have we actually heard that Google refused? It seems to be quite a jump in logic when we don't know the terms and whether perhaps Apple simply didn't want to pay the fee (which may have been steep) Google would have asked for the data.

I am not second-guessing the change by any means, but ugh… Maps is impressive, particularly in its presentation, despite its major flaws. To put so much together and have it work so well, only to be dismissed after it launches because it can't reliably perform its one essential task, must be crushing.

Apple replaced Google as the data source for its Maps app in iOS 6 after Google refused to license its vector mapping data and turn-by-turn navigation features.

Have we actually heard that Google refused? It seems to be quite a jump in logic when we don't know the terms and whether perhaps Apple simply didn't want to pay the fee (which may have been steep) Google would have asked for the data.

Right, I thought that Google wanted more branding on the mapping app and Apple refused to allow that, causing Apple to use their own mapping data?

unsure if it's fair to fire the manager, if he were given an impossible task for political reasons (like shedding google maps suddenly, at least a year before it normally might have happened). even demoting the manager back into the trenches...hard to know though without more information

Maps isn't something I use frequently but the last few times I have used it to see what all the fuss was about, I haven't had any issues. The only thing I noticed is that when I searched for gas stations near my house, it didn't give me the closest one as a result that's only a half mile up the road.

I can't help but feel that all of these people (Forstall, Williamson) are being fired because a higher-up (Cook? Jobs?) made the decision to push it out the door while knowing that it wasn't fully baked yet. From what I've read, there was another year left on the contract with Google for their mapping data, so why didn't they simply wait to release it in iOS 7 while putting the finishing touches on it?

I am not second-guessing the change by any means, but ugh… Maps is impressive, particularly in its presentation, despite its major flaws. To put so much together and have it work so well, only to be dismissed after it launches because it can't reliably perform its one essential task, must be crushing.

Man, that's the same argument I made when the new tornado warning system for my hometown came in. Super shiny, lots of different ways to alert people, collected lots of back-end data. Then people get all hot and bothered when it misses one little tornado that wiped out the town, killing everyone.

I never bothered to confirm, but I had a feeling that turn by turn direction data was being provided by TomTom. I was having flashbacks to the terrible TomTom information that I had to abandon when I did my cross-Canada driving trip. I paid a pretty penny for that app, and it was completely useless in both new (to me) cities I wanted to explore (Montreal and Fredericton).

Now I know not to bother with the turn-by-turn until I hear it is fixed. Also the search feature is completely useless. Especially when it cannot find businesses when I am in the parking lot.

Apple replaced Google as the data source for its Maps app in iOS 6 after Google refused to license its vector mapping data and turn-by-turn navigation features.

Have we actually heard that Google refused? It seems to be quite a jump in logic when we don't know the terms and whether perhaps Apple simply didn't want to pay the fee (which may have been steep) Google would have asked for the data.

Google doesn't license their turn by turn and such to anyone. Since Apple is within the set of anyone, they don't get access to it for their app.

unsure if it's fair to fire the manager, if he were given an impossible task for political reasons (like shedding google maps suddenly, at least a year before it normally might have happened). even demoting the manager back into the trenches...hard to know though without more information

My understanding was that they've been working towards this for multiple years, though who knows how intensively. But yes, hard to know if it's justified with more info....but you'd think if they just needed a fall guy, then Forrestal's firing would have provided that.

Apple replaced Google as the data source for its Maps app in iOS 6 after Google refused to license its vector mapping data and turn-by-turn navigation features.

Have we actually heard that Google refused? It seems to be quite a jump in logic when we don't know the terms and whether perhaps Apple simply didn't want to pay the fee (which may have been steep) Google would have asked for the data.

Google prohibits users of its api from doing turn by turn directions with the data provided. So legally Apple couldn't do it, or more likely Google asked for too much money to allow it. I bet the latter as its closer to giving a competitor access to your data.

That said, google maps on ios was starting to do a lot more targeted ads in ios. I would search for say home depot and get pins for unrelated locations. So I don't hold Google as being blameless for what happened here. It is definitely a grey area.

I use Maps a lot because i get lost easy and i'm terrible with directions. Last night i was stuck in a parking lot with an error message saying it couldn't communicate with the map servers. Aside from that, I've had an overall crappy experience using maps to find anything other than specific street addresses. Searching for things like CVS or Wallgreens or Burger King should yield TONS of results, but just about every time I need to search for retail locations in unfamiliar areas I get either very inconvenient results or just plain wrong ones. At one point I was 500 feet from a store I was looking for and it couldn't find it. Had I not pulled out of the lot and craned my neck around instead of driving, i would have missed it.

I await the return of Google Maps with yearning. It never once treated me this way.

Apple replaced Google as the data source for its Maps app in iOS 6 after Google refused to license its vector mapping data and turn-by-turn navigation features. (This is despite the fact that Google incorporated the features into its mobile OS, Android.)

Google might have been a little irked about Apple's crusade against Android, so kept it as an Android-only feature.

Or Apple might have demanded turn-by-turn for free.

Without the inside story we have no idea how unreasonable either of them were.

One thing that differentiates Google Maps from several other services is the ease with which errors are reported (right-click on the map - report a problem). You even get an email once they fix the error you reported.

I'd be interested in seeing a comparison between the different providers. Garmin is especially bad here. You need to go to a dedicated page on their website, select your 'product' and I think even supply 'serial number', and there's no option in the 'product' drop down menu 'iPhone app'. I'm amazed that they don't have the gates wide open for people that want to improve the maps.

EDIT: to clarify, the Apple maps app does allow this easily, as it should. I meant to point out that some map providers are better than others in this respect, and I'd be interested in an Ars review of how the different companies handle this.

I use Maps a lot ....I've had an overall crappy experience using maps to find anything other than specific street addresses. Searching for things like CVS or Wallgreens or Burger King should yield TONS of results, but just about every time I need to search for retail locations in unfamiliar areas I get either very inconvenient results or just plain wrong ones.....

Try using Siri first to filter the results. I've had much better luck that way. As a bonus, it's quicker and easier.

Apple replaced Google as the data source for its Maps app in iOS 6 after Google refused to license its vector mapping data and turn-by-turn navigation features. (This is despite the fact that Google incorporated the features into its mobile OS, Android.)

Google might have been a little irked about Apple's crusade against Android, so kept it as an Android-only feature.

Or Apple might have demanded turn-by-turn for free.

Without the inside story we have no idea how unreasonable either of them were.

Google gives away the data for free for relatively low-volume users (of which Apple clearly isn't), and charges a license fee for the API after a certain threshold is met. Apple has been willing to pay for this since the iPhone launched, I don't see that as being the critical component.

As for the "demanding turn-by-turn for free", I'm certain Apple would have developed this on their own if they had been allowed, but Google's license specifically prohibits using their map data for turn-by-turn, leaving Apple with only one choice: get new data, and build turn-by-turn on their own. That seems to be what they have done. I'm not sure what other "inside story" you're looking for, as this is all fairly widely-known information.

Apple replaced Google as the data source for its Maps app in iOS 6 after Google refused to license its vector mapping data and turn-by-turn navigation features.

Have we actually heard that Google refused? It seems to be quite a jump in logic when we don't know the terms and whether perhaps Apple simply didn't want to pay the fee (which may have been steep) Google would have asked for the data.

That's the way I heard it told, though I agree the phrasing could be changed to better reflect the evidence we have.

Maps and Siri are very pretty but not very good. When I ask Siri to give a route to my place of work it gives a route to someplace on the Great Lakes in upstate NY (I actually work less than a mile away in Manhattan). When I try to just find the location of my work place from my contacts the location blocks off. The parks of upper Manhattan are not correctly indicated and none of the paths are shown (it took Google a while to show them too). On the otherhand the 3D view looks nice and Siri can set the alarm clock. I do not actually want to use Google. I prefer to spread my personal data around.

While I only have a single case, I do have a single case, and both were top of the devices( original droid and garmin gps ) when I got them.

In retrospect, the turn-by-turn is not really a use that I need. I just need to know that something is actually there. In that respect, the Google Maps were superior. Even combining Siri with Maps means that most of my results will be heavily skewed to areas nowhere close to where I am. Especially when I know via a Google search that the business is within a few blocks of my location.

Hell, if I ask Siri to find me Pizza the app will try to send me across the bridge to the other side of town as the first result. Yes, Siri, I did not want pizza to be close, that makes it too easy!

Apple replaced Google as the data source for its Maps app in iOS 6 after Google refused to license its vector mapping data and turn-by-turn navigation features. (This is despite the fact that Google incorporated the features into its mobile OS, Android.)

Google might have been a little irked about Apple's crusade against Android, so kept it as an Android-only feature.

That's a bit of an odd way to put it (unless you're basing this on that infamous pissed-off Jobs quote in the Issacson bio). Basically, Google and Apple are now arch rivals fighting tooth and nail to be the OS vendor for what they view as the future of computing. The heyday of Windows and Mac OS X and other desktop OSes is over. iOS and Android are the future, and both Apple and Google want to be the Microsoft of the coming era, although their approaches are of course different from each other and from Microsoft in many ways.

In that light, Apple relying on its bitterest rival for a core part of their flagship OS was an obvious, serious problem. Google was not likely to offer attractive terms for relicensing or added features, and Apple fundamentally didn't trust them. It's the same thing where Apple has Samsung as their arch rival in hardware, but relies on Samsung to manufacture major components of their handsets. It's another uncomfortable situation that they are almost certainly planning to resolve (rumors of Apple getting Intel to act as a foundry for their ARM based designs...).

I am not second-guessing the change by any means, but ugh… Maps is impressive, particularly in its presentation, despite its major flaws. To put so much together and have it work so well, only to be dismissed after it launches because it can't reliably perform its one essential task, must be crushing.

Impressive, as in impressively bad in its presentation.

The relative visual weights of elements and regions is horrendous. In particular, one-way-street indicators are entirely missing at various zoom levels and pretty much invisible at nearly all zoom levels. This is inexcusable and just one of the many signs that the project was mismanaged from the very top of the personnel hierarchy.

Media and users both tend to fixate on provable flaws such as incorrect or missing data. Lost to most is the subconscious realization that the map's visual design is horrible.

Hundreds of years of cartography thrown out the window and instead substituted with trendy sparse minimalism. Maps should be information dense without cognitively overloading the user. Rather than pursue useable data density, apple just discarded most of that utility. For instance, glancing at a map for 2 seconds should give a user a mental picture of the street grid or overall layout of the physical world. Due to the visual weighting of streets and other regions, Apple maps fail in this regard. For example, regular land is beige yet roads are outlined with a shade of gray of nearly identical intensity. Meanwhile parks are visually bold, with bright contrasted green visually out-weighing and blotting out everything else on the screen.

Yes, maps are bad. But amazingly, they're even worse than most people consciously realize.

Maps isn't something I use frequently but the last few times I have used it to see what all the fuss was about, I haven't had any issues. The only thing I noticed is that when I searched for gas stations near my house, it didn't give me the closest one as a result that's only a half mile up the road.quote]It's one of those things where, if it screws up, it's screwing up in a situation where you're "depending on it."

My wife and I were trying to find this Asian market the other day, it didn't show up at all on her iPhone and we had to go all old school to locate it. I was driving and my wife refuses to familiarize herself with my Galaxy Nexus (not stock and lots of gestures and stuff).

unsure if it's fair to fire the manager, if he were given an impossible task for political reasons (like shedding google maps suddenly, at least a year before it normally might have happened). even demoting the manager back into the trenches...hard to know though without more information

Could this project manager have truly, royally screwed up? Sure. But, anyone who has ever been a PM knows full well that the primary reason most projects fail is almost always due to "upper management pressure" to meet unrealistic goals, often changed after milestones have been agreed upon.

As for the "demanding turn-by-turn for free", I'm certain Apple would have developed this on their own if they had been allowed, but Google's license specifically prohibits using their map data for turn-by-turn, leaving Apple with only one choice: get new data, and build turn-by-turn on their own. That seems to be what they have done. I'm not sure what other "inside story" you're looking for, as this is all fairly widely-known information.

No, it makes total sense. They were paying whatever fee for access to the data and either Google raised the price or Apple demanded to not have to pay for it. Either way, someone refused and Apple went looking for a new data source. What exactly happened is known only to Google and Apple.

License terms like the one you cited are moot when it comes to agreements between large corporations like these.

Maps isn't something I use frequently but the last few times I have used it to see what all the fuss was about, I haven't had any issues. The only thing I noticed is that when I searched for gas stations near my house, it didn't give me the closest one as a result that's only a half mile up the road.

I can't help but feel that all of these people (Forstall, Williamson) are being fired because a higher-up (Cook? Jobs?) made the decision to push it out the door while knowing that it wasn't fully baked yet. From what I've read, there was another year left on the contract with Google for their mapping data, so why didn't they simply wait to release it in iOS 7 while putting the finishing touches on it?

Seems like they needed a "killer" feature in iOS6 to help land it with the iPhone 5.

Apple replaced Google as the data source for its Maps app in iOS 6 after Google refused to license its vector mapping data and turn-by-turn navigation features. (This is despite the fact that Google incorporated the features into its mobile OS, Android.)

I know there's another company that refuses to license its mobile technologies, or does so only selectively, but I can't remember which one it is. Just a minute, and the name will come to me...

One thing that differentiates Google Maps from several other services is the ease with which errors are reported (right-click on the map - report a problem). You even get an email once they fix the error you reported.

I'd be interested in seeing a comparison between the different providers. Garmin is especially bad here. You need to go to a dedicated page on their website, select your 'product' and I think even supply 'serial number', and there's no option in the 'product' drop down menu 'iPhone app'. I'm amazed that they don't have the gates wide open for people that want to improve the maps.

What are you talking about? You tap to open options and hit the 'report bug' button on the maps app.

A bigger issue is the traffic display. Pretty hard to distinguish the tiny dots from the bigger dots. I prefer the Google Green/Yellow/Red lines.

This for me is the greatest problem. When Google sees no traffic, it puts green. When Apple sees no traffic, it puts nothing. Therefore you can never tell if it has no data for that road, or if there is just no traffic.

I've also had traffic indications appear and disappear at different magnifications. Once I drove into a huge traffic jam because I needed to zoom in one more click to see the red lines. Mind you, I was not zoomed way way out, it was quite a reasonable zoom level.

Apple replaced Google as the data source for its Maps app in iOS 6 after Google refused to license its vector mapping data and turn-by-turn navigation features. (This is despite the fact that Google incorporated the features into its mobile OS, Android.)

I know there's another company that refuses to license its mobile technologies, or does so only selectively, but I can't remember which one it is. Just a minute, and the name will come to me...

So far Apple has licensed to HTC and Microsoft, and is on record as offering to Samsung.

Maps isn't something I use frequently but the last few times I have used it to see what all the fuss was about, I haven't had any issues. The only thing I noticed is that when I searched for gas stations near my house, it didn't give me the closest one as a result that's only a half mile up the road.

In general, Apple Maps seem to *not find places* that Google can easily find. If I search for "sushi," not showing me the sushi restaurant half a block away is broken when compared to Google's map data. Same for gas stations, same for shopping... it's just incomplete.

Crombie wrote:

Also the search feature is completely useless. Especially when it cannot find businesses when I am in the parking lot.

This is my biggest problem! I have started using my work Android device to find stuff if I'm out and about.